


Away

by zosimos (trismegistus)



Series: Reverse'verse [58]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003)
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-29
Updated: 2014-08-29
Packaged: 2018-02-15 06:18:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2218974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trismegistus/pseuds/zosimos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This year Rian spends his birthday away from home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Away

Rian Martin turned twenty-three years old with very little fanfare. He was away, on the borderlands of Amestris and desert, working with an alchemical archaeological dig to preserve and decipher the ruins of an ancient civilization. It was an odd request, but the crew only had one other alchemist on staff, and their specialty was theoretical alchemy and not the very practical, and very useful application of air alchemy. 

It was hotter than hell’s furnace, being in the middle of summer in the arid desert, and Rian was amazed at how much he was learning. The dig was sponsored by the University - which in turn was sponsored by the military, hoping to streamline some of the best and brightest to a career military track - and Rian didn’t often have the opportunity to be around people his own age.

Most of the people working on the dig were his own age - some were alchemy enthusiasts, most were more interested in the preservation and reconstruction side of things - they were all terrifically smart and tremendously geeky. They laughed and flirted and drank terrible whiskey around a fire as the night sky lay an open expanse above them, brushed bright with stars.

It made him miss Edward, all the more.

There were letters, though. On every mail call, a letter for Martin, stamped from Central City’s main military base. Several pages stuffed in each envelope, one full of instructions that Rian promptly ignored, the other pages blank or full of scribbles in a language Rian wasn’t even sure actually existed.

At night, once the others had retreated to cots and tents, when the fire had burned almost to embers Rian would hold the parchment paper over the open flame and let the letters be revealed by heat. Dark, jagged letters - clumped tight together, lines small and scrunched. Edward would write about his day, about how much he missed Rian, about the things he would do to Rian as soon as he walked back through the door to his office.

The letters went into the fire after Rian had read them thoroughly. He would read it so slowly, savoring the words - the thought and care that went into his writing would be echoed in each and every one of Edward’s touches. After he watched the ashes float away into the night sky, Rian would touch himself in the sanctity of his own tent.

He would be out here for months, he knew, and it would be a long time before he felt Edward’s fingers again, before he felt the heat and fire of his mouth, the strange gentle caress of the automail - all of it, he had to live without it. His letters back were just as explicit - written hidden in plain sight, returned not to the office but mailed directly to Edward’s residence. 

Rian would lay awake on the night imagining Edward opening the letters, heating the papers and touching himself by Rian’s command.

His birthday arrived with little fanfare. Rian had not made mention of it to anyway - these people were compatriots, not friends, and they had work to do that was far more important. He half-expected something magical to happen, Edward to turn up and screw him into the sand while he whimpered happily, but he wasn’t that lucky. 

The letter he received that morning was still unread - it was a think envelope compared to previous ones, and finally Rian opened it.

It was only eleven words long - printed even still on the military letterhead, he probably got a nice scolding from Captain Hawkeye but he knew Ed wouldn’t care. Rian folded the paper back into the envelope, and slipped that one under his pillow. This assignment couldn’t be over soon enough.

_"I miss you."_

_"I love you."_

_"Let’s get married."_

_"Happy birthday."_


End file.
